Void: New England Patriots Face Critical Test Replacing A.J. Brown

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. This message is a paid partnership with AppleCard. One of my favorite parts of Game Day is everything leading up to it. Getting the house ready for a watch party, putting on my favorite team hoodie and making one last run to the store before a kick-all. You know the routine. And with my AppleCard, I can earn up to 3% unlimited daily cashback on every purchase I make with AppleCard using Apple Pay. Not a month from now, but every day. Apply in the wallet app on your iPhone today, subject to credit approval. AppleCard issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch, Terms and More at AppleCard. Dotcom. Hey, Drake May here. As a pro quarterback, I know I can't do it alone. I have to trust my team and that goes for my money too, which is why I use betterment,

1:00the trusted investing and savings platform. They're automated investing tools always have my back, just like my old line. Over a million people already trust betterment to build their wealth. So I know I'm in good company. Start building yours at betterment.com or download the app. Investing involves risk. Performance not guaranteed. Paid client ad. Views may not be representative. See App Store and Google Play reviews. Learn more at betterment.com slash ambassadors. AJ Brown is down and it's time for the other guys and that wide receiver room to step up starting with Romeo Dobs. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Lockdown Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Happen then. I am your host Nick Cattle's on today's show. Offense across the NFL is starting to shift in the Patriots roster is actually built for in the second segment. All eyes are on Gabe Ackis after an impressive debut.

2:04But first, the Pat's biggest offensive challenge over the next month plus is surviving without AJ Brown. Today's episode is brought to by Game Time. Build the game time app, create an account and use code Lockdown for $20 off your first purchase. The biggest non-drake may question this week for this football team is the offensive life without AJ Brown. What is that going to look like? How is it going to feel? How are the Patriots going to try to replace AJ Brown's productivity? Don't get it twisted. You can't replace Brown's gravity, right? The fact that he's going to draw the extra attention. That's not going to happen. But you do have to replace the productivity. Evan Lazar posted this week that AJ Brown, his impact on the offense against the Seahawks, you can measure it by success rate with AJ Brown on the field.

3:07The Patriots offensive success rate against the Seahawks was 46.7% without AJ Brown. The success rate fell to 35.1%. So more than a 10 point drop off, 10.6% actually that's terrible math by me, 11.6% drop off from AJ Brown to no AJ Brown in success rate against the Seahawks. All three interceptions obviously happened without Brown on the field. The first one, the intended target, Romeo Dobbs, the second intended target, pop Douglas, the third intended target, Mac Hollins. Let's start with Mac Hollins. I would expect Hollins to take the brunt of the snaps that Brown would be getting. And I think we should all prepare for a similar type usage for Hollins over the next month plus without Brown as we saw last year with Mac Hollins.

4:08I think you're going to see Hollins play a lot of that boundary X receiver guy playing outside a decent amount, right? And I think you're going to see Hollins play in the big slot. Now Hollins is going to play in the big slot, no matter what from time to time. And he's going to play the X boundary receiver, no matter what from time to time. But without AJ Brown involved with this offense for the next four weeks, maybe as many as six weeks, I would expect an uptick in Hollins usage at both of those spots. I mean, Hollins is, you know, six foot four to 21, AJ Brown is six foot one to 26. So if you're talking about frame, you're talking about a player's size and how you can match up to that size as close as you can, it's Hollins. It's not Kyle Williams. Now of course, Romeo dobs is bigger than people appreciate, you know, Romeo dobs is six foot two. I think he's about 210 pounds or so, maybe a little bit lighter than that.

5:11I'll look it up right now. But when you look at a six foot two to 10. So you know, Romeo dobs also has that bigger frame, but Romeo dobs is filling the dobs roll. So the guy who's going to supplant Brown's time for the most part, I think is going to be Hollins. His game kind of fits and his size fits. What I mean by his game kind of fits, we talked about Brown beating corners on slant routes, easy money. Hollins is good on those slant routes. We saw it last year. We talk about AJ Brown running some intermediate to deep in routes. Hollins can run those as well. We saw that happen against Seattle and week one and that final drive before Drake may through the awful interception. You saw Hollins working intermediate to deep with those in breaking routes. That's what he can do. And of course, you can also take the occasional shot down field on the boundary with Hollins

6:12because he is big. He's got good hands. He's pretty good when it comes to contested catches. So the first guy we look at is Hollins. And I think his usage is going to ramp up. It's not ideal given that Hollins is what 33 years older so, but it's what you have in the room. Then we get to Romeo dobs. And I can sit here and break down Romeo dobs's role and what he should do with the biggest thing about dobs that I want to address on this episode is that he needs to quickly get past week one. He needs to move on. He needs to move on emotionally. He needs to move on mentally. Many needs to move on physically. Romeo dobs needs to forget what happened against the Seahawks week one. He should no longer be thinking about the drop. He should no longer be thinking about the interception that was thrown his way. And some of the book on dobs, if you're looking at strengths and weaknesses when he's coming

7:15out in college, some would tell you that drops in college were an issue. Now it wasn't as big of an issue in Green Bay for the most part. But that was a question when dobs was coming out. So is he going to let that drop against the Seahawks mentally impact him for the next few weeks? Is he going to let it impact him for the rest of the year or is he going to put it on the back burner? Say I've got to forget about that. I've got to move on with my football life and I've got to make plays against Pittsburgh on Sunday in front of that Gillette crowd. That's the biggest question with dobs this week. And he moved past what happened because not only was he known coming out of college for some drop issues, he's also been known to be a little bit up and down emotionally. And that impacted his time in Green Bay. He was suspended at one point. And so he has somebody that every once in a while, he will allow the types of things that

8:15happened against the Seahawks to impact him beyond that individual play. And we saw dobs on the sidelines and that Seattle game. He looked like he wanted a puppy. And in the post game, there were beat writers posting that dobs was taking it pretty badly. He's got to get past that. He's got to focus on the task at hand. Then we get to Kyle Williams and I'm excited for Kyle Williams because this is his opportunity. If he wants a chance at more snaps, he has that chance at more snaps. Now the first question to the Patriots believe that he can bring more versatility to this offense than what they've asked him to do because primarily he's been that outside boundary guy that brings speed. Now Phil Perry posted Mike Vrable talking about the wide receivers on Monday said that quote, we'll have to move guys around at different positions. Now is Williams one of those guys that the Patriots plan on moving around?

9:16Do they believe that they can do that? Do they trust Williams enough to move him at the line of scrimmage? Is he going to play inside more or is he just going to stick with that role that he's had from day one, really, which again is the speed element on the outside? We'll see how much this Patriots coaching staff believes and trusts in Kyle Williams over the next month or so. Maybe the biggest question about Williams is not his route running. It's not where he's going to line up. It's his blocking. It was pretty telling Taylor Kyle's posted that, you know, Mike Vrable said Kyle Williams had a couple of decent returns and ran decisively, but Vrable did know that Williams, you know, there was some blocking confusion that needs to be corrected. So look, you could look at it, say special teams, the blocking on the special teams units. Do that spring Kyle Williams free for some big returns.

10:17And then you also have to look at Kyle Williams himself as a blocker because we know we know for a fact, if Williams does not consistently block for this offense, he's not going to play as much. It's as simple as that. It's a huge key to Josh McDaniels in his offense. It is absolutely a fundamental part of a Mike Vrable football team again, the effort in the finish. So not only when Kyle Williams is out there as a kick returner and the return unit blocking, but also Williams himself as a blocker. Can he consistently at least get in the way? Because we know if you can't block as a receiver, it's going to limit your snaps and you become a major quote unquote tell. Because if you're not a consistent run blocker at that position and you're out there on the field, then the defense is going to feel like they're going to throw the football here. They're going to throw the football because Kyle Williams is out here on the field.

11:18It was similar to pop Douglas last year where pop Douglas was limited in his snaps at times because he's not the biggest dude. He's not a great run blocker. We discussed that ad nauseam in 2025. So when Williams is out there, is he going to be able to block consistently the Patriots? They need the run game. They want the run game. The last point I would make tight ends and running backs tight ends and running backs tight ends and running backs in this past game Eli rared in step on up. We know what to expect from Hunter Henry, but Eli rared in can you become more of a factor in the past game? Pravee on Henderson. Can you straighten out your third down issues? Ramandre Stevenson had a great camp as a receiver. The Patriots can use their tight ends and running backs in the passing game more than they have over the past year plus and they're going to need to have everybody chip in without AJ Brown. Again, you're not going to draw the attention with these other guys that AJ Brown draws.

12:19But if you can replace the productivity, you can find ways to make this thing work with Drake May, then you'll be fine. Coming up Gabe Ackis has already pushing for more snaps after his first week in the NFL. Don Patriots, part of the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network your team every day. The NFL is full of games you plan for all year, but sometimes the best memories come from the games you almost missed. Game time makes it easy to find tickets. NFL matchups you want to see with prices that include fees. So you know your total cost upfront. You can browse games, see a panoramic view from your seat before you buy and get tickets in just a couple of taps tap tapy plus zone deals like you choose the section and let game time choose the seats to help save even more, whether it's a rivalry game matchup featuring a player you must see in person or an underdog ready to make some noise. Game time makes getting to the game simple. There are certain games we're watching on TV. Just isn't the same arrival game with everything on the line of packed stadium that atmosphere.

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14:28$25 when you trade 25 KAL S H I Cal she trade what's next 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Cal she products are not available in all jurisdictions prices values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information see Cal she dot com slash regulatory. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being in every day. So we know that training camp was not great for gay back as we talked a lot about that he was late to the party and when he was out there, he looked lost, he looked late. And we saw the preseason games he looked lost he looked late. Well in week one against the see hawks. Gay back is completely flipped the script. He only played 19 snaps on defense. In those 19 snaps, he finished with three tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack.

15:30He had three or four flash plays, including chasing down a ball carrier from the opposite side of the field. It was a tremendous play, a ton of effort, a ton of energy racing from his spot on the edge across the field all the way to the sideline to tackle the ball carrier from behind. That's the type of play that is going to get the attention of Mike Vrable and every other defensive coach in the room. So even though he played only 19 snaps, I mean, when you're making three or four flash plays in only 19 snaps in your first NFL action, like the real NFL action live bullets, regular season football, very tough place to play like at Seattle, very tough offense, good offensive line to deal with with the see hawks. When you're making a flash play pretty much every six or seven snaps, you're out there. That is accomplishing something. That is getting it done. That is catching eyeballs.

16:32Simply put Gabe Ackis earned more snaps this week against Pittsburgh, given the way he played against the see hawks. And I certainly hope we see more of Gabe Ackis. Now if he fails, if he falters, he falls back, it's okay. We have to understand he's a rookie. He's going to have ups and downs. But when he plays the way he played last week, you reward the young man. Of course, he's got to go out there and practice and practice well, but you reward somebody with more playing time when they put the film together that Gabe Ackis put together against the see hawks. So Gabe Ackis has absolutely earned more snaps in week two. And it begs the question, I'm not the first person to ask this question. I think a lot of us asked the question watching this play out last week with him is Gabe Ackis, just a guy that needs the full week to prepare is Ackis to type that, you know,

17:33if you throw them out there with a bunch of unpredictability, you're not necessarily studying up on teams before you have joint practices. You're not studying up on these teams before you get to the preseason game. It's kind of an is what it is environment and you throw them into the deep end and you see how he responds. And again, he looked lost. He looked late in the preseason. Was that a product of just not feeling comfortable, not feeling prepared in his Ackis, the type of guy that when he has a full week to devote himself to studying a team, he looks much, much better. There are players that are like that. There are players that are not necessarily great at adapting on the fly or if they're unsure of themselves, they're not going to really make the plays that they're capable of making. It's more understandable when you're a rookie, of course, because it's your first time in the NFL. It's the first time lining up against these guys you're playing all that stuff.

18:38But with a full week to prepare and now that you played on Wednesday night, you have a week plus to prepare for the Pittsburgh Steelers, maybe Ackis is just that type of player. He needs the time. He needs the prep. So he is confident and comfortable. And then he allows his natural tools and gifts to take over. Got plenty of more thoughts on gave Ackis. But first, if you're watching this on YouTube, don't forget to click that thumbs up. Give us a like. Helps us with the algorithm. Don't forget to throw a comment in as well. How do you want the Patriots to replace AJ Brown's productivity? What do you think they need to do? How do you feel about gave Ackis after his debut with real season football? I feel much better about Ackis right now than I felt all through all camp. I'll tell you that. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube as well. 11,000 subs is the next goal. If Ackis is competent, that's significant. He doesn't have to be an all pro. He doesn't have to be a pro baller, not this year.

19:38Now you hope he gets to those levels, of course. But with this team not playing Contavia such as a single snap on defense and rotating three defensive ends, you want that third defensive end to at least be competent. You want confidence in him that when you put him out there, he's going to be able to make some plays because the Patriots will be able to get away with quote unquote three defensive ends. If they're rotating their interior defensive line guys, here's another point with the signing of day, Juan Jones, this now makes it more likely that you can push Milton Williams to the edge every once in a while that you can push Christian bar more to the defensive end position every once in a while because now you have a veteran that you believe in that will be able to clog that hole. So if you're going to play, for example, Dayquan Jones along with Christian bar more will now you can float Williams to the outside.

20:39So that helps the versatility of this defensive line and you can get away with this for the next few weeks. And then of course, you hope that Harold Landry comes back now. That might be pie in the sky, but if Landry comes back, he doesn't have to be the Harold Landry from the first five or six weeks last year, you hope that he would be, but he doesn't have to be that guy. If you have Accus competing and contributing, if you are getting something from Elijah Pandermor consistently this year, if you are using Williams and bar more and more at the end because now you have Dayquan Jones and Corey Dirt and that you feel pretty good about it. Accus holding up against the run, lessons, the importance of Elijah Ponder having to figure that out. You know, one of the questions we have about Ponder is, will he be able to consistently for 17 games in the regular season, defend the run? Will he be able to hold up on the edge? And the jury is still out. You don't answer that question in one week.

21:40But if Accus can do it, then you've got Accus, you've got Dremont Jones who can certainly do it. And then again, you've got some other options. If you're pushing some of your interior defensive lineman out to the defensive end positions. The past rush for this football team is still a huge question against the Seahawks, four man past rush, the pressure rate was about 20%. You're not going to be able to survive if you're getting 20% pressure rate with your four man rush. You've got to get something more than that. Or you're going to end up blitzing a ton and relying on your corners like you did in week one, it worked a week one and your corners are really good. But now the safety net, it's not as large. It's not as vast as you want it to be. They've got to be able to get that four man past rush going at least a little bit. And maybe that's gave Accus playing more snaps. Maybe that is tweaking the Elijah Ponder roll. He hits using your interior defensive lineman on the edge.

22:43But gave Accus being able to be out there and giving you, let's say 25 to 30 snaps. If he can give you that, it helps everything else kind of fall into place. NFL offense is going full circle and the pats are prepared for it. It's coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team every day. There are certain flavors that instantly feel like summer and for a lot of people, those classic red, white and blue freezer pops are right at the top of the list. Sweet cherry lime blue raspberry. It's one of those nostalgic summer flavors. Everybody recognizes and now five hour energy is bringing that flavor combination into the new firework freeze five hour energy shot blending sweet cherry zesty lime and electric blue raspberry into one refreshing shot inspired by those iconic summer freezer pops. Let me take you back. That flavor instantly brings me to being outside all day during summer break playing pick up basketball, trying to get a swim in next door, then grabbing one of those freezer pops from

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24:45That feeling is what makes football so much fun and fandal is adding another layer of excitement with rewards and surprises throughout the season. Just imagine sitting there watching Detroit and New Orleans this past weekend, one eye on the game, one eye on your phone, checking out fandal. Make this your most rewarding season ever with fandal. Visit fandal dot com to get started. Thanks for checking out the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Don't forget to like comment and subscribe if you're watching on YouTube. Good news on Monday at practice. Travion Henderson was back at practice. And so was Ben Brown. Now the not so great news, Robert Spalane was not at practice on Monday. Now of course, we always have the disclaimer with Mike Frabel and how he manages veterans. This could be a load management day for Robert Spalane, but he was not there. The METRIUS crown over was also not at practice, which of course would hurt your offensive tackle depth.

25:46But let's get back to spaleane because if spaleane misses anytime. Their off ball linebacker spot gets very dicey and very quickly. You know, Christian Ellis, he was hit or miss against Seattle. And I thought he was actually more miss than hit. So you don't want to see either of those guys out, but especially Robert Spalane, who I thought played fairly well, save for a couple of plays here and there. He did miss a tackle or two, but I thought spaleane on balance was good against the Seahawks. Ellis not so much. Of course, getting Treby on Henderson back would be a lift to your offense, a lift to your explosivity. He would be part of trying to replace that AJ Brown productivity. We talked about in the first segment. So it'd be great if Henderson could be back out there against the Steelers on Sunday. Meanwhile, let's put a bow on the offensive approach conversation because I want to look at the rest of the NFL.

26:46And when you look at all 32 teams, what's happening is almost a running game Renaissance. The NFL is moving towards running the football more and more. And they're actually moving towards running the football with bigger personnel. You go back to the LA Rams with the 13 personnel last year. We've talked about Mike Reese had the note a couple of weeks ago that there were I think more than 20 teams in the NFL that went into this season with at least four active tight ends on the 53 man. And that's a change. So you're seeing more tight ends on a lot more teams. You're seeing more big personnel in your seeing teams run the football. Sean Siod from Sumer Sports posted excluding kneel downs and spikes. And this was before Sunday night football and Monday night football, excluding kneels and spikes.

27:46We saw the highest under center usage and efficiency for a week once since 2022. 42% of the time we saw a team under center. You compare that to 2022. It was 30.9% from 23 through last year, 2025. We did not see that percentage eclipse 30% in teams that had over a 10% change from going under center from last year to this year in week one, Vegas, the jets, the Ravens, the Jaguars, the Falcons, the Cardinals, the Lions, the commanders, the Niners and the Bengals. 10 teams almost a third of the league in the impact was significant when looking specifically at first down Ryan Paganetti, a strategy and analytics coach. He's the guy that posted the Patriots kicker video board, social media post that went viral

28:48a couple of weeks ago. Paganetti posted on normal situation first and 10 plays NFL offences were under center 66.5 percent of the time. More than two thirds the time normal situation first and 10s NFL offences this week lined up under center. That's up from 45.9% in week one of last year. That's a 20.6% jump higher than every full season rate since 2012. And more under center means big boy football is making its way back. Paganetti also posted that full backs were on the field for 12.4% of the offensive plays in week one. That's up from 7.5% in week one last season. That is a 4.9% jump in a 66% increase. So what's going on? Well offences I talked about this actually at my fantasy football draft this year with

29:50a buddy. Defences are playing more to deep safeties. We saw this happening last year and Mike Rabelon W E E I on Monday morning said, Hey, look, I know people are killing us about the conservative approach. But when you're playing to split safeties, defenses are trying to take away the explosive plays down field. They're trying to take away a quarterback like Drake May being able to chuck it down field and pick up 30 to 40 yards at a time. So when you see those two safeties way back, they're inviting you to run the football. And they're banking on their front seven to be able to stop the run. And that's happening across football. More teams are playing more to deep safeties on defense, which means more offenses are running the ball, which means more offenses are under sensor more, which means you have more tight ends and you have more fullback usage. It's a full circle type moment in the Patriots this off season. They understood the mission. They go out and they add Julian Hill. They go out and they add Reggie Gilliam. Now of course the Hill injury absolutely hurts.

30:54In Gilliam to me against Seattle was pretty me. But the Patriots they understood the mission. Now it's trying to execute. It's understanding what you need to do versus being able to execute what you need to do. The Patriots against the Seahawks did not consistently execute. You need to block. You need to block up front. One more note about the Seattle Seahawks game before we move forward. Uh, I did not understand. You know, when you look at again, under center, big boy football, I didn't quite understand the Patriots wanting to go big boy football, established the run, et cetera, et cetera. Having both Tanner Arkin and Cameron lot to active on Wednesday night. Neither guy took a single snap on offense. There were zero three tight end snaps on Wednesday.

31:55I would like to see that be a part of the Patriots game plan. I would like to see a few snaps of 13 personnel every week. I mean, what's the point of having both Arkin and lot to active if they're not going to play any offensive snaps? Like what are we doing? All right. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Again, don't forget to like, comment and subscribe on YouTube. And now on video, we're going to send you to the first ever 24 seven YouTube channel on the NFL. And on audio, you can check out Lockdown fantasy football with fabs and Marcus for your second. Listen, appreciate all of you. Thanks for checking us out. And we'll talk again with you next time. Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. Ask your prescriber about we gov some magletide injection 2.4 milligrams, a G.O.P.

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